Exhaust gases from combustion plants, so-called flue gases, include a number of contaminants which must be removed from them in accordance with the current environmental regulations. Some of the contaminants to be removed include, for instance, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and inorganic fluorine and chlorine compounds. New combustion plants are therefore equipped with flue gas cleaning devices, which remove the sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides and inorganic fluorine and chlorine compounds from them. The flue gases are commonly also conducted through a series of filters in order to remove ash particles from the flue gases.
There is increased focus to remove a portion of the carbon dioxide from the flue gases since carbon dioxide is a so-called greenhouse gas, which is partially responsible for the so-called greenhouse effect. One approach to reducing the CO2 emission is to remove it from the flue gas flow and to store it deep in the earth or beneath the sea bed. This approach has, however, the disadvantage that there is no guarantee that the carbon dioxide thus stored will not be liberated again as a result of tectonic movement. This approach also has the disadvantage that extremely high costs are associated with it, on the one hand for the location of suitable storage sites and on the other hand for the actual insertion into the storage sites. The high costs associated with known methods for reducing the CO2 emissions prevent wide usage of this method or make it more difficult.